


Double Date

by MikeWritesThings



Series: crypto learns to have fun [1]
Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Double Dating, Drabble, Established Relationship, F/F, Friendship, Humor, M/M, Platonic Relationships, bowling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29126448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikeWritesThings/pseuds/MikeWritesThings
Summary: Taejoon was pretty sure that he'd died and gone to hell, and hell looked a lot like a bowling alley.
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Octane | Octavio Silva, Rampart | Ramya Parekh/Wattson | Natalie Paquette
Series: crypto learns to have fun [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2196027
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	Double Date

**Author's Note:**

> welcome to mikewritesthings' first filler episode this is just me trying to hit a certain word count before january is over it is 10:35 as i write this message and i will become god and stop time if i have to lets GO im gonna do something different im gonna publish raw and then edit while its published i do not have time for editing i have a dEADLINE
> 
> also tw for like. a joke abt going to hell for being gay AKSIEKDIWK

Taejoon was in the seventh circle of hell.

Squished between Ramya and Octavio, two of the loudest people on the planet, all he could think of was the fact that he was _probably_ dead, had suffered one too many injuries in the Apex Games, and had gone to hell, where he was burning for his crimes. What crimes, he didn’t know. Maybe for being gay.

Hell looked a lot like a bowling alley, for some reason. Black carpets with neon geometric patterns, strobe lights, and conventional pop music playing overhead. There were red plastic chairs scattered haphazardly around the building, often grouped around formica-topped tables where groups of people sat eating hot dogs and drinking slushies.

A little boy had spilled his red slushy earlier and there was a bright red stain against the wall next to the bowling balls, looking especially foreboding. Like blood spatters, or something dramatic like that to fit in with Taejoon’s hell metaphor.

There were four other people here with him; Octavio, his boyfriend, dressed in a horrific neon green crop-top hoodie plus jean shorts; Ramya, in a yellow jumpsuit with the top half tied around her waist to reveal her black undershirt; Natalie, wearing a puffy jacket and high-waisted jeans; and Renee, silhouette the same as ever in her all-black outfit and accompanying scarf. Taejoon himself wore a simple t-shirt, a light jacket, and jeans. 

“Gay people going to brunch,” Ramya had said when gesturing to the group, and Octavio had nodded in agreement. Taejoon had no idea what the fuck that was supposed to mean.

This bowling alley thing was technically supposed to be a double-date: Octavio and Ramya had talked about it last match while Taejoon was their third, and he had been sure that they were just joking or just goofing off—but then right after the match Octavio had latched onto his arm in the medbay, his bleeding chest not even patched up all the way yet, and begged, _‘can we go bowling with Ramya and Nat pleeeeease I want cheese fries’._

“We can get cheese fries literally anywhere else,” Taejoon had responded, snubbing his nose as blood dripped from Octavio’s wound and onto the floor. “Please go see a nurse.”

“But I want cheese fries from a _bowling alley,"_ Octavio whined. "They hit different.”

Taejoon didn’t know what the hell _that_ was supposed to mean, either, so he’d just sighed and agreed to go, but only because he was worried that Octavio was going to bleed out if he kept trying to convince him to come out of stubbornness. 

So now, here they were. On a double-date with Ramya and Natalie, and also Renee, for some reason. Natalie had smiled and, when asked, said that she had invited her to come because they were best friends, after all.

Taejoon wondered if she didn’t know what a double date was or just didn’t care.

“I think my shoes have gum on the bottom,” Renee said emotionlessly from her spot across from him. She was sitting right next to Natalie, who was wearing a pair of headphones—the loud music in addition to the sound of pins getting knocked over and kids yelling bothered her, so they were noise-canceling, though still allowed for the others to be heard.

She and Renee were quiet individuals, so Taejoon wondered why he was sitting between Hellion 1 and Hellion 2 when he could be sitting with _them_. His question was inadvertently answered when Octavio leaned over to take a quick selfie with him, sticking his tongue out. Right. He needed to look like arm candy for his boyfriend.

“They’re quite unflattering, aren’t they?” Ramya said through a grin as she stuck her feet out to look at her shoes, patterned white and red. They were all wearing bowling shoes except for Octavio, who had laughed at them enough already about them looking stupid. “Kinda like clown shoes. Hate these."

“This was your idea,” Taejoon pointed out.

“Eh, technically it was your boyfriend’s.”

“I like bowling,” Octavio said when Taejoon shifted his glare to him. He didn’t really believe him. Bowling seemed too... _tame_ for Octavio, whose other interests were 'drag-racing' and 'skydiving without a parachute'. “Che and I used to throw random things at the pins to knock them over. We got banned for throwing a Pac-Man machine, once.”

Taejoon had a lot of questions about that, but for the sake of his sanity, decided not to ask any of them.

Natalie was typing their names into a little computer-thing—hers first, then Ramya, Renee, Octavio, and finally, him, though he was under ‘Hyeon’ rather than Taejoon. Though she and Octavio knew of his true identity, the other two didn’t, so it was like that for now.

Plus, getting found out by the Syndicate because he’d put his name on a bowling alley screen sounded like the stupidest way to get caught. Mila would definitely have a field day with that one.

Finally, she finished setting them up, and jumped to her feet excitedly, clapping her hands.

“I will go first!” She said, voice a little loud due to the fact that she was wearing headphones. “Papa and I used to go bowling all the time! I am quite good at the game.”

She approached where all the bowling balls were, picking up a bright orange one, before approaching their lane. She stood wide, her legs apart, before crouching down and tossing the ball in what Taejoon had heard described as ‘granny style’. Ramya gave an appreciative whistle at the sight, though Taejoon had the feeling that it wasn’t because it was a good throw. Or roll. Or...something. He didn’t really know bowling terminology, so give him a break.

Natalie knocked over seven pins in one go, and glanced back to flash Renee a grin, who gave her a thumbs-up in return. She got another orange ball from the rack while the ball she’d just thrown returned through a hole with a mechanical noise. 

She bowled the same way she did before, and knocked down only one pin. Her final score for the first frame was eight.

“Startin’ off strong,” Ramya said as she got to her feet, untying the sleeves of her jumpsuit from around her waist and pulling it on correctly, perhaps so that it wouldn’t get in the way when she had her turn. Octavio raised his hand to give Natalie a high-five, and Taejoon smiled at her. It was nice to see her excited over something, especially as she shared an activity she loved with them. 

He thought of all the times he and Mila had played laser tag when they were kids—the laser tag place had a special on Sundays where two players could enter at half the price in the early afternoon, and they had taken advantage of that as often as they could. The thought of playing it now seemed juvenile and childish, but it still brought him back nostalgic memories of simpler times.

He missed her a lot.

Ramya did her throw with a little dramatic flair, swinging her arm in a straight arc and sticking her leg up high behind her right as she threw it. She got a strike on her first try.

Natalie clapped enthusiastically as Octavio gave a whoop, and Taejoon watched her adjust her ponytail before flashing them all a grin. He wondered if it would be rude to go get food right now. Would they take offense to him leaving during their turns or was he overthinking it?

“Hey dumbass,” his boyfriend said from beside him, and Taejoon glanced in his direction. “I can _hear_ you thinking from here. Chill out, dude, I chose bowling _specifically_ because you cannot have an anxiety attack while bowling.”

“I think you underestimate my ability to get worked up over things,” Taejoon replied, dry. Octavio leaned closer to him, eyebrow arched playfully.

“What’re you worried about, huh? Not winning? Not eating enough chili cheese fries? Are you worried that your fingers won’t fit in the holes? Don’t worry, cariño, you’ve got plenty of experience in putting your fingers in—”

“Beat _that_ , suckers,” Ramya cut him off loudly as she marched towards them, her score displayed on the screen above her head. Renee got to her feet as Ramya passed by, her eyes now narrowed in challenge. Though quiet, Renee had a competitive streak, and it seemed that the other woman’s comment had just ignited it within her.

She picked up her midnight-blue ball, giving the pins ahead of her a long, calculating look. She shifted her stance, back straight, before swinging her arm back and leaning forward right as she let go of the ball. She got a strike, too.

“She’s always so good at everything,” Octavio complained, and Ramya said,

“Not as good as Nat.”

Natalie smiled at her girlfriend sweetly, a flush rising to her cheeks and making her scar stand out. Their flirting was simultaneously cute and also exhausting. Taejoon always felt awkward bearing witness to it, for some reason. He wondered if people felt the same watching him interact with Octavio, but the two of them didn’t really flirt in public—unless _‘Octavio making suggestive and inappropriate comments while Taejoon actively ignored him’_ constituted flirting.

Every single one of Renee’s subsequent rolls were pretty good, earning her a very high score for her first frame, and when she walked back to her seat she seemed pretty proud of herself in that quiet, confident way of hers. Natalie raised her hand to give her a high-five, and Renee obliged.

For Octavio’s turn he picked up a lime green ball and flashed the four of them a huge grin, cocking his hip to the side dramatically as he spread his arms wide and said,

“I’ll show you guys how a _true_ pro does it!”

He then did what Natalie had done earlier, except backwards—his ass was facing the lane, and he seemed to be doing it entirely to get a laugh out of them instead of as an actual effective strategy. This was further proven when Octavio did throw his ball and it immediately rolled into the gutter.

Silence followed.

“Well I’m impressed,” Renee said, voice flat.

“That was a joke roll,” Octavio said, but Taejoon could see the light pink rising to his cheeks and thought it was cute that he had gotten embarrassed over something stupid like that. When his ball came back Octavio rolled it similarly to how Ramya had done it, though he didn’t stick his leg up like she had, instead just sliding it a little behind him. He knocked over three pins.

“Thanks for that, Mr. Bowling Pro,” Ramya said as Octavio returned to his seat. “You’re currently dead last. Oi, Kim, your go.”

Taejoon’s turn was nothing to write home about. He knocked over six pins on his first try and then two on his next. Renee was currently in first place, then Ramya, Natalie, Taejoon, and Octavio coming in last. His boyfriend didn’t seem that bothered about it, though, typing something on his phone with his lips turned up mischievously at the corners.

“Do not livestream this,” Taejoon told him. Octavio fumbled his phone.

“I wasn’t gonna do that,” he said quickly, unconvincing. "I was just..."

Taejoon could see his half-typed post on his screen: ' _BOWLING WITH SOME GAYS AND ALSO WRAITH: NOT CLICKBAIT_ '. "I don't believe you."

"Do you want pizza?" Octavio asked, changing the subject, and after a second Taejoon nodded.

The two of them got up and went to the snack bar while the girls took their turns, and as they stood in line Octavio wrapped both of his arms around Taejoon’s elbow and practically hung off of him in that way he did whenever he was trying to get his attention. He ignored him for a while, just to hear him whine, and when he did start whining he finally asked,

“What?” 

“Are you having fun?” Octavio asked, and seemed actually...genuinely curious. No undercurrent of sarcasm in his voice, or a joke to be made. Taejoon shrugged one shoulder, half-hearted, as the line moved.

“It’s...bowling,” he said.

“Yeah, but, it’s bowling with _me,_ your favorite person,” Octavio said.

There was a pause.

“And Natalie,” he added as an afterthought. “Your second favorite person.”

“I’m fine, Octavio,” Taejoon said, because he didn’t really know what he wanted him to say. That he was having a blast? It was just _bowling_. His shoes were uncomfortable and everything in here smelled strangely like cheese. It wasn’t exactly an amusement park.

Octavio just rolled his eyes, becoming strangely quiet after that, though he did speak when they got to the cash register so that he could order an extra large pizza with about ten different types of toppings plus a slushy. Taejoon was tasked with guessing everyone else’s preferred drinks, though Octavio already knew Renee's.

“She would like tea, right?” Taejoon asked as they brought their drinks back to the group, referring to Ramya.

“Well, she’s British, so,” Octavio said, saying the part Taejoon hadn’t wanted to voice out loud. When they got there he handed Natalie her water, Renee her root beer, and Ramya her iced tea. He watched the younger woman’s face scrunch up as she took her drink from him.

“The hell’s this?” She asked.

“Tea,” Taejoon said.

“Nah," she said. “Silva, what’s that you got there?”

“A slushy,” his boyfriend said. Ramya plucked it from his hand and handed him her tea instead.

“Thanks, mate.”

Octavio just blinked, as if unsure how to react. What Ramya had just done was a very Octavio-esque move, and Taejoon hid a smirk by sipping from his water as he thought to himself that his boyfriend had finally met his match.

Their pizza arrived during Taejoon’s turn, so when he came back to the table they were all seated at, he found that everyone else had started eating without him. Ramya had stacked two slices on top of each other and was eating them like that. Natalie had picked all the sausage off her slice. 

“Stuffed crust?” Renee asked quietly as she picked up a slice, looking curious.

“They didn’t have any,” Taejoon answered, and she let it drop back onto her plate.

“Oh,” she said, and if he didn’t know any better, he’d almost think that she sounded disappointed.

He sat between Natalie and Octavio as he grabbed his own slice, absentmindedly picking off the bacon as he watched the others talk among themselves. Though he was dating Octavio and friends with Natalie, he never really talked to Ramya or Renee that much. He and Renee got along fine, he supposed, but Ramya was a bit of a wild card. She was fond of making fun of Witt, though, so they at least had some shared interests.

Just as that thought crossed his mind Ramya leaned forward on the table, looking him up and down before saying,

“Kim.”

Raising an eyebrow, he gestured to himself, as if to say _‘me?’_

“I’ve got a question,” she said, and Taejoon just sat there, waiting for her to elaborate. After a beat she did, apparently having expected him to respond with ‘ _what_ ’ or something. “Well, I’ve just got a bet goin' with Witt.”

“What’s the bet?” He asked warily, and when she smiled at him she poked her tongue through the gap in her teeth, something he noticed she did whenever she was feeling particularly mischievous.

“So he thinks that you wear all those jackets in order to hide gang tattoos,” Ramya said, and Renee coughed quietly, as if hiding a laugh. Taejoon glanced between Ramya and Natalie, but Natalie looked like she had no idea what this bet was about, either. Finally, he asked,

“And what did _you_ bet?”

“So if it’s gang tattoos, he wins. If it is _anything else_ other than specifically gang tattoos, _I_ win.” Ramya waggled her fingers at him. “So. Tell me.”

Taejoon wondered if he really wore jackets so often that people thought that there must be a specific reason. 

“I just like jackets,” he said, and Octavio snickered from beside him. He then slid his jacket off in order to expose his bare arms, clear of any tattoos and markings. The modifications on his hands extended only to his wrists, leaving everything else bare.

“Let me get a pic of that,” Ramya said, pulling her phone from her pocket and taking a picture of him, before pocketing it with a grin. “Thanks, was lookin’ to buy myself a few new tools next break.”

“Are you adding those modifications to Sheila?” Natalie asked, interested, and Ramya immediately launched into a rant about parts and repairs and tools and a lot of things that Taejoon did not really understand. He was a computer programmer, not an engineer. Looking over at Renee and Octavio, he saw that they both looked equally as lost.

"Octavio," Renee said quietly when it became clear Ramya wasn't going to slow down. "How did you know I liked root beer?"

"My brain is full of useless details," Octavio said without really answering her question, though Taejoon understood. His boyfriend often remembered weird trivial things that normally slipped Taejoon's mind, like what kind of pizza toppings people liked. It was his own way of showing people he cared, even if they didn't really get that.

After they finished eating they got back to their game, but as Natalie picked up her orange ball Octavio said loudly,

“Wait.”

She looked back at him with wide, curious eyes, as Octavio got to his feet.

“Let’s make a bet,” he said.

“No,” Renee said from her seat, right as Ramya said,

“Go on.”

“Whoever gets last has to buy beer for everyone,” Octavio said, and Ramya reached across Taejoon to extend her hand to him.

“Oh, it’s on. Get ready to cry.”

Renee met Taejoon’s eyes and mirrored his eye roll. 

Natalie scored pretty well, as did Ramya, but Renee got three strikes in a row. The screen above them said ‘turkey’. Taejoon had no idea what that meant, exactly, but she was smirking to herself once again as she returned to her seat. Octavio was next, and this time he knocked over half the pins on his first try. 

He looked back at the group as he readied himself for his second throw, winking at them, before tossing it and knocking the rest. 

“Fuck yeah!” He whooped.

“But Tae—I mean, Hyeon is next,” Natalie pointed out. “You could still be in last place after him.”

Octavio made eye contact with him and silently sliced his finger across his throat, mouthing _'I'll kill you'_. Taejoon felt amused rather than threatened as he got up for his turn. 

He scored decently, like he had in the first frame, so Octavio was in last place once again. He could hear Ramya making fun of the younger man behind his back, and their rivalry only intensified as the game went on, until they were both actively trying to distract each other whenever it was their turn.

During the fourth frame Ramya kept saying ‘ _Silva_!’ in a high-pitched voice that sounded a lot like Lifeline. In the sixth frame, Octavio laid down in front of the lane so that Ramya would have to toss the ball awkwardly or else break the rules, which would make her ‘ _lose instantly_ ’, according to Octavio.

"They're playing the game wrong..." Natalie murmured.

"They're playing the game _their_ way," Taejoon said as he watched Ramya hop onto Octavio's back as he prepared for his turn, burdening him with her height.

Taejoon eventually got up to go get a refill on his water, and as he waited in line he felt a prickle on the back of his neck that let him know he was being watched. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw that Renee had followed him.

“Hey,” she said in greeting, and he hummed in return. They stood side-by-side silently as they watched the kid in front of them order a pretzel, before she said, “They’re alright.”

He stared at her, wondering if she was referring to the pretzels or something else, before she elaborated, “The kids.”

“We’re only a couple years older than them,” Taejoon said, before handing his cup to the employee and asking for a refill.

“I know,” she said, doing the same. “But sometimes it feels like they don’t have much to worry about.”

“Aside from the bloodsport.”

“Aside from the bloodsport,” she agreed.

When they got their refills they walked back to the others slowly, because Taejoon felt like there was more that she wanted to say, but her pale blue eyes were staring straight ahead, unreadable. He was about to just ask her what it was that she wanted to talk about when Renee said,

“Natalie cares about you a lot.”

_Oh._

“She calls you one of her best friends, so I think it means a lot to her that you came out tonight.” She shifted her gaze to him, those unnerving blue eyes of hers as he tried to think of something to say. “Even if Ramya isn’t exactly your crowd, and Octavio is...Octavio, the fact that you tagged along means something to her.”

“...You think so?” He asked quietly, and she nodded.

“To him, too,” she said, nodding her head towards Octavio, who was smiling that big pretty smile of his. “And...to me.”

She placed her hand against his bicep, not quite looking at him as her eyes found Natalie in the group.

“I know what it’s like to be chasing after things, looking for answers,” she said quietly, and Taejoon suddenly did not like the direction that this conversation was going. “I only recently learned that sometimes, taking a break is the best choice you can make.”

And with that she left him behind, her scarf fluttering after her as she rejoined the group. Taejoon tried to decipher her words, pick it apart for some sort of hidden meaning, but after a moment or so he just sighed to himself and sat back in his seat, telling himself that he would think about them later.

Somehow, in the seventh frame, Octavio managed to pull himself into third place, displacing Natalie and putting her in fourth while Taejoon ranked last. He’d gotten two gutters in a row last round, still thinking about what Renee had said, so Ramya was now telling him what kind of beers she liked.

“You got it, babe,” Octavio said as Taejoon readied himself for his next turn. “Kick Natalie’s ass!”

“Those are brave words coming from someone I could step on,” Ramya said to him, being about half a foot taller.

Taejoon rolled yet another gutter, but recovered in his second try by knocking over every pin except one. He was still in last, though.

When the game ended, Ramya threw her arm around his shoulders and laughed, telling him ‘ _better luck next time_ ’. Natalie gave him a sympathetic smile. Octavio offered a high-five to Renee, because they’d somehow ended the game tied for first. Surprisingly, she obliged him.

Stepping out into the golden glow of the setting sun, their group milled about on the sidewalk for a bit, Octavio suggesting bars and clubs he was into while Renee and Ramya either shot down his ideas or, in Ramya’s case, said ‘ _that place has the worst beer_ ’ every couple of seconds. 

“Thanks for coming, H-Hyeon,” Natalie told him, stuttering over that name, which she’d started doing ever since she’d found out it was fake. “I really enjoyed spending this time with you. It’s nice to see you doing fun things!"

“Right,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried not to meet her bright eyes. “Uh...maybe we can all go do something else another day.”

“Like what?” She asked, curious, and he shrugged.

“Laser tag?” He suggested the first thing that came to mind, and he expected her to snub her nose or at least politely turn him down, but her eyes widened, and she said,

“That sounds like fun! I’ll talk about it with Ramya and Renee. I think they would agree.”

She walked ahead of him towards the girls, and she was immediately replaced by Octavio, who was scrolling through his feed on his phone.

“Did you have fun?” He asked, putting his phone away and looking up at him with expectant eyes. Taejoon had expected him to ask this question again, so he’d told himself that he would just say _‘yes’_ whenever he did, but...looking back on it, he kind of did. It wasn’t mind-blowing or the most fun he’d ever had, but it was...alright. 

Enjoyable.

“I did,” he said, and Octavio smiled as he wrapped his arms around his waist, before leaning up and kissing Taejoon lightly. 

“Knew you would, cariño. Now let’s get shitfaced, and the _real_ fun can start.”

**Author's Note:**

> [ IMAGE OF MAN HOLDING MONSTER ENERGY CAN THAT SAYS 'KILL' ] I WROTE THIS ALL IN TWO HOURS BUT I HAVE REACHED MY GOAL ITS 11: 42 GOODBYE


End file.
